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About

I’m a 30 something who has been in the mental health system off and on since I was a kid. I am not a professional, but am a Consumer who has seen a lot and wants to make a difference for others in the mental health system who may not have the confidence to speak for themselves. I’m also an abuse survivor, and as a result of what I have been through, I now live with Depression, and Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). To aid in day to day life, I also utilize a Psychiatric Service Dog (PSD) for symptom control of my mental health issues.

As a teen, I was placed in shelters, grouphomes, short-term psychiatric units and a couple state hospitals. As an adult, I’ve been in and out of short-term psych units, but not with the frequency I was as a teen. At this point, I’ve been admitted once a year over the past 3 or 4 years. The most recent hospitalization was because my medication was increased in dosage by my doctor, and I had a bad reaction that sent me ino some sort of manic phase because of a build up of excess serotonin in my system. Normally I’ve never had a problem with becoming manic so it was quite the experience. Four years ago, I was seeing a therapist anywhere from 2 to 3 times per week, but now that I’ve worked through a lot of things, I see my therapist as needed and it isn’t uncommon for there to be a month or longer between sessions. This is a mutual agreement in regards to my therapy and isn’t because I’m dodging my therapist, it’s bcause I’m stable and pretty much need to be on a sort of maintanance schedule instead of the intensive one I was on four years ago.

At any rate, as I said, I’ve seen a lot and want to help others, so that maybe their road to recovery might be a little easier then mine has been at times.